Work to begin Monday on Route 188 and Route 21

Work to begin Monday on Route 188 and Route 21 projects

Route 188 between Bill George Drive and Elm Drive will be closed to through traffic beginning Monday as the state Department of Transportation replaces this small bridge behind the Greene County Fairgrounds. - Bob Niedbala / Observer-Reporter.
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WAYNESBURG – People returning to work following the Easter holiday who drive Route 21 east of Waynesburg or Route 188 may want to leave a little early as highway construction projects on those roads get under way Monday morning.

Contractors for the state Department of Transportation will begin repaving a section of Route 21 between Gwynn Road and Fox Road and start work to replace a small bridge on Route 188 behind the Greene County Fairgrounds.

Bridge replacement on Route 188 will require a detour while work on Route 21 will at times during construction involve lane restrictions.

“People who use these routes to get to work may want to build a little extra time into their commute,” said Jay Ofsanik, PennDOT spokesman.

The replacement of the bridge over Laurel Run will involve the closing of Route 188 to through traffic between the Sheetz Store at Bill George Drive and Elm Drive.

During construction, the detour will follow Route 21, Elm Drive and Route 188. Most of the construction will be in the area of the bridge, and the roadway on either side will remain open to local traffic.

The bridge is about 50 feet long and has met its useful life, PennDOT said. The project is expected to be completed by July 22, before the Greene County Fair, which runs Aug. 4-10.

The project will include demolition of the existing bridge, utility relocation, construction of the new single-span bridge, drainage, paving and signs. Work began earlier on utility relocations.

Lane Construction was awarded a $2.2 million contract for this project, as well as for work conducted last summer on a bridge on Route 19 in Mt. Morris.

On the Route 21 project, work is expected to begin Monday and be completed by June 10.

PennDOT had awarded a contract to repave the about 2 miles of highway to the Golden Eagle Construction Co., which submitted a low bid of $775,000.

Traffic, at times, will be restricted to single-lane, alternating. The same stretch of highway was last resurfaced about 15 years ago.

Last spring, a slightly longer section of the road was repaved between the Junction Deli and the Paisley intersection in Cumberland Township.

That project, also completed by Golden Eagle, was more extensive and involved milling the roadway and resurfacing it, upgrading the guardrails and repairing the slope and a bridge parapet. That project also involved single-lane restrictions.

Work also is continuing on Route 21 on the construction of a new bridge to replace the 87-year-old Masontown Bridge carrying Route 21 over the Monongahela River.

Bob Niedbala

Former Staff Writer

Bob Niedbala worked as a general assignment reporter for the newspaper for 27 years in the Greene County bureau. He received a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh.